


how to kill a Pendragon

by leveren



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-06
Packaged: 2018-02-16 08:50:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2263425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leveren/pseuds/leveren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another day of failing to assassinate Arthur goes by, and Merlin gets desperate.<br/>note: based on that episode where Merlin was enchanted by Morgana to kill Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	how to kill a Pendragon

       "I can't even comprehend why Father would make me sit in during the court sessions if he refuses to value my opinion at all!" Arthur ripped off his jacket and flung it across the room before stomping off to change, leaving Merlin in a hurried state to clean up after his mess. 

       "The king has his, uh, own way of doing things y'know. Perhaps you have to attend it only for exposure?" Merlin babbled as he sneaked the potion out of his pocket and emptied the contents into the bath water. Raising his hand over the bath, he silently muttered a spell, before his eyes flashed gold momentarily. The water bubbled violently, before returning to its normal state. Just to make sure that his magic worked, he dipped one of Arthur's swords into the seemingly calm waters, and grinned.  At least half of the metal had completely melted away. There was no way Arthur could survive this time.

       "Yes, but it's insulting to just sit beside my Father and let him have his way-you know how unreasonable he could be at time," Arthur called over the changing screen. When there came no reply, he called out suspiciously, "Merlin?"

       Silence.

       Arthur peered around the screen, only to find that not only was his manservant missing, but he had also left without drawing his bath as well. Glancing at his used clothes hanged over the screen, and then at the empty spot on his drawer, which technically should have been where a new set of clothes should be lain out for him, he groaned in frustration. Great. Now he had to get out new clothes from the closet by himself. 

       After changing, he stomped towards Gaius' quarters, and popped his head in to ask if Gaius had seen his useless manservant. Apparently, Merlin had somehow managed to escape to the tavern while he was changing. Arthur could almost feel his vein at his forehead close to bursting with irritation. At that moment, however, he realized that the weird smell he had been smelling for a while was coming from him, and with disgust, he resigned himself to getting a proper bath first before inventing creative methods to punish that bonehead.

* * *

       "Merlin...Merlin wake up, " Merlin's eyes fluttered open and he glanced around his surroundings confusingly. Wasn't he supposed to be doing something for Arthur? He groaned and clasped his head between his hands as his head throbbed painfully. "Urg... Gaius, what happened?" The pain was worse than the morning after that one time he went out drinking with the stable boys. That horrifying morning, he learned an important lesson- never compete at drinking with John, that man could guzzle down any alcoholic drink like water. 

        "Here, drink up and hydrate yourself. Do you feel any discomfort around the neck?" Gaius probed around the nape of his neck with gentle fingers as Merlin gulped down the water gratefully. "No, but it feels like I've been asleep for days," came the reply, accompanied by a groan when  Gaius added a bit of pressure near the wound.

        "Actually, you have been asleep, your mental self, that is, " Gaius redressed the wound as he related the past few day's incidents to Merlin. 

        "No way! I mean, many a times had I wished to strangle that idiot but to actually do it?" Merlin's eyes widened dramatically as he stared at Gaius in shock. 

        "Well, no point blaming yourself there. Anyways, I've removed the source from your neck so you can get back to work by tomorrow." The old bandages were disposed into the waste bin and Gaius dabbed around the wound before disposing of the cotton wad as well.

        Merlin stretched himself with a yawn, "nice to know but till then, I think I'm going to have, " another yawn, "a nice, long nap."

* * *

        "Ah, Merlin," Gaius called from his bed, "I see that you've returned to your normal self."

        "Yep. Unfortunately that also means that i'd be mucking out Arthur's horses consciously again, " Merlin flashed a smile,"Well, I'd be going on my way now, wouldn't want our royal prince to trip over himself by putting his arm in the wrong shirt hole," and waved a little before leaving through the door.

        Gaius blinked. Was that just his imagination, or did he just notice some motion at Merlin's nape? 

* * *

        "Merlin, I see that you've safely returned from the tavern. Tell me, how many bottles did you down until you had completely forgotten about the fact that you had to at least complete your chores before sneaking off to drink in broad daylight?" Arthur sarcastically acknowledged Merlin's presence before jerking to his head towards the closet, indicating that fortunately, he wasn't about to fire him...yet. Merlin hurried towards the closet and pulled out an appropriate set of clothing for the court session later on. Making sure that Arthur was still behind the screen, he shoved the crossbow into the closet and quickly set it up. The next time Arthur opened the closet, the poison coated arrow wold strike directly into his heart. The poor man didn't stand a chance.

       " Do you think it could be Elyan?" 

       "Why him? Elyan is noble and loyal; he couldn't possibly betray Camelot," Merlin filled the bath. Sadly, he had used up all of that potion previously. 

       "My Father was responsible for his father's death-that's reason enough," Arthur gradually lowered himself into the tub. This was then followed by ten excruciating long minutes, where Merlin kept glancing furtively towards the closet door every two seconds. It took all of his willpower to not yell at Arthur to shut up and go change. Patience, Merlin, patience.

       At last, he couldn't take it no more. 

       "Yes, yes, Arthur I understand that you're concerned about this traitor nonsense, but you should really get dressed, yeah?" Merlin impatiently interrupted Arthur as he shooed Arthur out of the tub. 

       Arthur stared at Merlin incredulously at "traitor nonsense" but still strode towards the closet. With every step taken, Merlin's heart raced faster and he clenched his fist excitedly in anticipation. At his hand hovered above the handle, Arthur paused and looked Merlin in the eye. "What?" Merlin spat out nervously. 

      "Merlin, aren't you forgetting something?" Merlin released the breath which he had been holding the whole time as Arthur removed the hand on the handle in favor of resting both hands on his hips. Merlin paused and patted himself down before looking up curiously, "no... everything's still here, why?" 

     "Why? Good question; as my manservant, WHY are you just standing there? Get me my clothes you idiot!" Merlin could have smacked himself in the face at that moment, obviously Arthur would have expected Merlin to do all the minor chores for him. The warlock felt like kicking the closet in frustration- half a day was gone just for planning and setting up yet another failed attempt.

* * *

 

    "Is everything alright Merlin?" Leon patted him on the back gently upon noticing that said manservant had been brooding silently in a corner, a great contrast to the racket that the knights were causing in the tavern. 

    "Yes, except for the fact that I just can't seem to make Arthur die at my hands," came the gloomy reply. "Ha, Merlin, you're a riot! With that scrawny body of yours, how are you going to lay hand on him?" Gwaine slapped Merlin on the back, in a good-nature manner, but it still knocked all the breath out of Merlin either way.

    "Shut up, Gwaine," Merlin grumbled back and downed the whole pint of Mead, much to Leon's protests. He needed a proper plan, one that couldn't possibly backfire. There was no way that he could overpower Arthur in terms of strength, so the only few ways to do it was if Arthur was 1. unsuspecting (he had no idea how the many plans devised based on that could fail time and time again) 2. weak or drugged ( he clenched his fist in anger upon remembering how 'sweet' Gwen had unknowingly foiled his poison plan) and...3. asleep? That's it! Just pour poison into his ear as he's asleep, trapping him in an eternal slumber! But, wait... Arthur always keeps a sharp dagger under a pillow; Merlin's neck would be slashed even before he could take two steps towards the bed. Think, Merlin, what other ways could he make Arthur let his guard down till he was in a range close enough to poison him? 

     Another cup was emptied, even fuller than the previous cup. The rest of the knights were obviously adding more alcohol into his cup just for the amusement of seeing him get drop-dead drunk. Arthur hasn't messed around for quite some time, so the 'pressure' should have been pent up for a pretty long while. He could use magic to enchant some random servant girl to 'distract' him while he'd reach up from under the bed to stab him...wait, there's no way of guaranteeing that Arthur would even be seduced, or that he would be distracted long enough for him to be able to sneak up on Arthur in the first place. It would only work if...

    Yet another cup was downed, causing the Gwaine and Percival to hoot in laughter, accompanied by more cheers from the other knights. It would only work if Merlin was the one doing it, then he could slide the dagger out from the pillow at the right moment and...

    Somehow, in his drunken state of mind, the plan seemed perfectly logical and giggling to himself with glee, he quickly ran off to find the prince.

 

 


End file.
